National Soccer Hall of Fame announces 24 finalists on 2010 Ballot

The National Soccer Hall of Fame released its final ballot for the Class of 2010 and the 24 former soccer players chosen represent a vast array of teams and eras.

Former U.S. national team standouts Earnie Stewart, Peter Vermes and Thomas Dooley, Women's national team stars Cindy Parlow and Shannon McMillan, as well as foreign-born MLS pioneers Marco Etcheverry, Peter Nowak and Carlos Valderrama are just some of the candidates on the ballot. And yes, SBI Mafia favorite John O'Brien is also on the ballot.

Voters will be able to select up to 10 candidates for entry, with all candidates that appear on 66.7 percent of ballots being inducted.

I will put up a post with a poll for SBI readers to vote on who they think should make the 2010 Hall of Fame class, but for now, what do you think of this group? Who would make your ballot? If you could only select one person for your ballot, who would get your vote?

I’d like to cast an Anti-Thomas Doley vote right now for letting the ball into the far post versus his birth country Germany in the ’98 World Cup. I mean how does that ball go in when your standing right next to the post?

In the words of Walter from the Beg Lebowski, “—-ing Germans, nothing ever changes”

Lots of good names this time around. All of the following had pretty decent impacts on the American game in one form or fashion, be it being a big player in early MLS, or US national team. Mauricio Cienfuegos, Raul Diaz Arce, Thomas Dooley, Marco Etcheverry, Robin Fraser, Chris Henderson, Roy Lassiter, Shannon MacMillan, Joe-Max Moore, Peter Nowak, John O’Brien, Cindy Parlow, Preki Radosavljevic, Earnie Stewart, Carlos Valderrama, Peter Vermes. I think of the list Cienfugos, Dooley, Etcheverry, Valderrama Joe Max, and Earnie deserve it the most. MLS prob needs to get its own wing, so guys like Lassiter and Stern John are rewarded for their play in the early days.

I have one of the authentics of that style. The red trim is a fine mesh material, while the main jersey is a rather snug stretch fabric. Smooth to the touch. Very light. It also had a sort of interior t-shirt-type thing knitted inside, almost like wearing two jerseys at once.

One of the funniest moments of the 2002 Final was when one of the Brazilian players was struggling to put his jersey on. The camera cut to the referee, Pierluigi Collini, who was trying mightily to keep from cracking up.

I’m lost why John O’Brien is in there when Thomas Dooley, Earnie Stewart, Dominic Kinnear and Peter Nowak aren’t. And Etchverry and Valderamma for their great MLS contributions. O’Brien shouldn’t even be in the consideration as he never fully developed past 1 WC. Some of the players above have influenced both the USMNT and MLS for over 20 years. O’Brien…well…was a one-hit wonder.

No way to Joe-Max? He has 100 caps, is 4th all time leading scorer for USMNT with 24 goals, and has played in both Europe and South Africa. Plus 3 World Cups and was part of ’95 Copa America 4th place US team. If you’re gonna put John Doyle as a legit contender, Joe-Max has to be on that list too!

Um, what? I don’t know if Vermes deserves induction, but that’s definitely not all he’s done.

He was one of the players that elevated Rutgers to a national power, was runner-up NCAA Player of the year, US Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1988, pretty sure he was the only American on the 1990 WC team playing in Europe, and the first born and bred American to play in the Eredivisie. And played 5 years in the Spanish 2nd division when only a handful of Americans were playing overseas.

And nothing special in MLS?? He didn’t start in the league until he was 30, yet still captained two clubs, won a MLS Cup and made it to another final, and managed to win Defender of the Year in 2000.

I don’t understand all the Preki hate. I grew up with him on the US national team and Kansas City Wiz. The US team certainly could use his left footed creativity right now. I understand that his first game for the US was when he was 33 and didn’t have an extremely long career, but he certainly was one of the better players for the US team while he was there. Not to mention his contributions to MLS with his two MVPs

My one vote would be a tie between Ernie Stewart and Mario Etcheverry – can’t decide between the two. For the women, I think I’d have to go with Parlow over MacMillan. Both were super subs but Parlow developed into a key first teamer.

Dooley, Stewart and Moore. Accomplished players for US Natonal Team, abroad and in MLS (Stewart only briefly in MLS).

Dooley changed the national team around when he joined the team adding a lot more dynamic two-way play from defense and midfield.

Stewart was successful in Holland and on US National Team (3 World Cups).

Moore was one of the best domestic players who also played in Germany and England.

Lots of good non-US players in the list too, but these guys should be in. I’d take any of these three guys over the majority of the recent inductess any day.

I like some of the recent inductees (last five years), but some not so much. I mean Mike Windishman is in the Hall of Fame from the 1990 World Cup team and the guy never played professionally (bad timing – no NASL or MLS in his prime – if he had one).

I’m glad a few here are standing up for Joe-Max. The guy played with heart that we don’t see many current guys playing with. He ran until he dropped. He was versatile. And the stats mentioned show he was also a skilled player.

Fascinating comments! Remember that the players on this list met an objective criteria to be eligible and have polled a minimum of 5% of the vote on previous ballots. Criteria are here:link to national.soccerhall.org

Thomas Dooley – he captained our US Team and had a great club career in Germany.
Ernie Stewart – was one of the US best players every time he put the shirt on, plied his trade abroad and was a big gamer.
Dominic Kinnear – as a player he has won it all. He’s a great person, not some cocky guy that won’t sit and have beer with you. He won the US Open Cup with the Greek Americans went everyone was allowed to participate in the Cup. Was the first American to win a Mexican National Championship with Nexaca. Has coached the Dynamos to the championship. And seriously if Bradley wasn’t the coach, he would be next in line for the job. I know I’ve said a lot about Dominic but so many don’t know the accomplishments he’s had.
Marco Etcheverry – The King of DC United should I say more, he put MLS on the map.
Peter Vermes – Americas 1st Captain, he was the first US guy we all wanted to follow.

man – hard to believe no one’s voting for Roy Lassiter. He didn’t rewrite the scoring records in MLS, b/c they didn’t exist when he was doing the writing, but he’s got several of the most impressive goal-scoring strike rates in MLS history.

In ’96, Lassiter scored 27 goals. We talk about Cunningham’s torrid rate this year, but only had 17 goals.

Despite only parts of 6 years in MLS, he still managed 88 goals – the record until Jason Kries topped it a few years ago.

He also played in Italy and Costa Rica. Just because he wasn’t a huge performer for the USMNT (4 goals, about 30 games) doesn’t mean he’s not worthy of HoF consideration. He might not make it, but he deserves to be in the conversation.

I am a HUGE Milwaukee Wave fan as well as a Chicago Fire fan. I would agree with Peter Nowak he was a great assets to the Fire. That is why Peter Nowak was inducted into the “Ring of Fire” aka the retired jerseys.

Victor Nogueria was a legend in indoor soccer he was especially great in the 80’s with the San Diego Shockers and especially with the Milwaukee Wave in the 80’s and 90’s. he was the backbone of the team that led them to 4 championships in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2005.